WWDC 2006
08.06.06 - 03:19pm
I feel that due to the fact that I own a Mac I should at-least acknowledge that the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference will be taking hold of San Francisco for the next week. Lots of stuff will be up for discussion including OS X Leopard, product launches, software launches, and tons of presentations. The demonstrations for Leopard should be hot stuff as it is looking like one sick piece of software but the hardware launches and revisions should be even better.
I personally can’t wait to see the final specs for the sucessor to the G5, the Mac Pro. I really hope Apple uses a single board for all revisions of the Mac Pro so that it will be very upgradeable. Rumor and sense has it that the Mac Pro will feature Intel’s new server processor, Woodcrest. I wouldn’t be surprised to see both single and dual processor Mac Pros featuring 2 to 4 gigs of ram and a multiple GPU configuration most likely featuring ATi’s CrossFire solution. Macs have never been great gaming machines due to their limited options for video cards but with so much recent support of OS X in the gaming scene perhaps Apple will make the next move. Who knows, maybe one day Apple will actually be competitive in 3D competitions and games.
While I am not exactly sitting on the edge of my seat for the announcements of WWDC, there should be some interesting stuff presented over the next few days so don’t be surprised if this hardcore Windows user posts some Apple related news. Even if Apple doesn’t drop any bombs the end of the week should be exciting.
I don’t think Apple will ever produce great gaming machines, unless they start licensing Microsoft’s DirectX technology. OpenGL is being heavily neglected (which is a shame) and so far the iMac and MacBook Pro are the only models with independant GPUs. Even then, the GPUs are chosen for their noise and power efficiency over pure performance. I’m guessing that if the Mac Pro gets powerhouse GPUs they’ll be the 3D modelling workstation type.
Much like you chose the X1600 for the HTPC you built, Apple chooses their hardware on basis of what the 5% of the computing market they cater for expects from Apple.
One could always hope that Apple would turn a new leaf in these regards. A good example would be Dell and their XPS line. Normally Dell caters to the corporate and boring desktop world but now Dell has a few gaming systems that are actually worthy of playing modern games. With Apple you never know, they might release a special edition Mac Pro with some pimped out components and a snazzy case.
Personally, I’d like to see Apple have a go at “the corporate and boring desktop world”. If OS X Leopard is bundled with Windows virtualisation software (I guess we’ll find that out in a few hours) then it can easily run most Windows apps from within the OS X shell.
In terms of gaming, the possibility may exist that the Mac Pro will be customisable at a level comparable to Dell’s XPS line — allowing users to pick more game orientated hardware as opposed to the workstation stuff (i.e. a Core 2 Duo CPU instead of a Woodcrest, a Radeon X1800 instead of a Quadro FX, etc.).
I strongly disagree with the statement that OpenGL is being neglected on OS X. However, the WWDC 2006 content regarding OpenGL improvements in Leopard is under NDA.
The specific improvements are significant.